L & J Adventures...: A Day at the Zoo

Today we headed to the zoo and I think that everyone in Prague had the same idea!! Since it was on the other side of town, we had to take the tram to a bus stop and then from there, the bus would take us to the zoo. Only issue, the bus was jam packed, people smelled and there was traffic so we had to be confined longer than usual but we survived! Thankfully the bus dropped us off right at the entrance gate. So we bought our tickets, and headed inside. Although it's very similar to the zoo at home, here you can pay to bring your dogs with you inside as well. We both thought that was kinda strange, and there were plenty throughout the zoo, both big and small dogs. We didn't know that you had to pay for a map, stupid idea, until after we bought our tickets so we looked at a large scale map at the entrance and then decided to just walk and we would eventually see everything. We started walking and at first we didn't see many animals in their exhibits. We saw a few owls and large birds before noticing this very large mountain that people were climbing up, using a ramp, and hoped there were animals up there! Josh was more hesitant than me but I had a feeling that at least something was up there. So we start hiking, as we walked, we notice a billy goat exhibit with monkeys inside as well and there was a monkey at the very top of the exhibit eating some sort of vegetation, he was cute and not shy to humans! As we continued to reach the top, the views of the zoo, river and city were beautiful and you were able to see the lower level of the zoo! We finally got to the top, there were a few food places and a playground for kids and then we noticed a few signs pointing to certain animals and went from there. We were able to see moose, buffalo, deer, but unfortunately the wolves were not out. We then walked over to the newly renovated elephant exhibit that had many elephants and even a baby elephant, so cute. The exhibit was very close and you were able to see them very clear. The we walked over to the giraffe and zebra area as well as the meerkats and in an interior exhibit, we saw a single giraffe. By this time, we were hungry so we stopped at a cafe and bought some French fries, everything else was so expensive, and ate our fruit bars that we brought for home. Then josh spotted a hotdog stand and got us each a hotdog. Now hotdogs over here are a little different than at home. They have this crunch to them when biting down that kinda grosses me out, imagine that, but I tried to put that aside cause I was hungry! After lunch, we headed to the hippo exhibit, which was really cool. There was at least 3 of them and they were swimming in the water that was right beside us, only a thick sheet of glass was between us. Most of the time they were underwater but when they came up for a breath we were only able to see their heads but they were humongous. We continued walking, saw the polars bears, one was enjoying a swim which was fun to watch and then we walked into the monkey exhibit area that showcased small monkeys in their environment. By this time we returned back to the entrance and still needed to see the other half of the zoo. We walked to the sea lions and watched them play aggressively amongst themselves and there was the cutest baby sea lion playing too. Then we saw penguins, which are Josh's favorite and flamingos which are my favorite and continued walking towards to the tigers.

Being that the zoo is right beside the Vltava River, sadly in 2002, a catastrophic flood destroyed the southern part of the zoo. It left thousands of animals homeless and seeking temporary homes and 136 died from drownings or stress, including an elephant, 2 hippos, lion, bear, sea lion and many birds. While we were walking through the lower half, they had a sign showing pictures of the devastation along with a pole that showed how high the water rose and it was unbelievable. They also had another flood that happened this year in June that left some devastation as well. But on the happier note, the zoo is producing three times more offspring (which explains all the cute babies in the exhibits) than before the flood and attendance has doubled, which is good!

Back to the animals...we saw large tortoises, gorillas, angry tigers (he was walking around his exhibit growling, must have been hungry), a female lion, cheetahs, monkeys with the billy goats, lemurs, prairie dogs and lastly a bald eagle. By this time, the zoo was about to close so we needed to make our way to the exit. But before we left, josh had to try this czech sugar wafer, it looked like a disc of styrofoam but was pretty tasty. We headed out the exit and noticed that everyone had the same idea as us which was to catch the bus back to the tram station and we both were not about to do that again so we decided to walk back to that area, josh promised it was not too bad of a walk (he has ran in this area before). But first we walked through the Troja Palace which is right across from the zoo and walked around the gardens and then continued until we found an apple orchard that josh HAD to pick a few to take home. Then we started our journey back home...we crossed the Vltava River and walked through a nice park. I'm pretty sure josh lied about it not being too far because we were walking for forever and my feet were already tired from walking around the zoo. Finally I could see the end in sight, we boarded the tram, made a pit stop to the grocery store and then headed home. It was a great day and we both really enjoyed seeing all the animals and I am so happy that my sweet husband let us skip the reptile section today, since he knows my fears of those nasty creatures!!

We climbed that mountain to get to the top of the zoo and then worked our way down.

Cute little monkey

Halfway there...

View from the top, you can see how close the Vltava River is in relations to the zoo

See the baby elephant?

So precious!

Looking out into the giraffe, zebra and ostrich exhibit, beautiful scenery

Hungry hippo

The cute baby sea lion wanted to play!

Josh loved the huge tortoises

I think the tiger was ready for dinner, he looked fierce!

Sweet little penguins

Sign showing how much the flood affected the zoo

You can see the pole in the background and I'm standing in front of it to give an idea of how high the water rose during the flood in 2002 which is the higher flag. The shorter flag shows the water level from this past flood in June.